Shabana Mahmood and Wes Streeting scolded for 'hurtful' and 'very disappointing' early release joke
Wes Streeting and Shabana Mahmood have been scolded for their "hurtful" and "incredibly disappointing" remarks about Labour's early prison release scheme.
Speaking to GB News, Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride hit out at the new Defence Secretary and Home Secretary after joking new Justice Secretary Alex Norris wants to "let them all out".
Captured in a staggering hot-mic moment, Mr Streeting can be heard saying of Mr Norris: "You know he’s the enemy now, Justice Shabana?"
Ms Mahmood replied "no he’s not", to which the Defence Secretary then swiped: "He wants to let them all out."
Reacting to the joke made, Sir Mel told GB News it is "incredibly disappointing" behaviour in light of some convicted of high-profile cases also being considered for early release, such as Shabir Ahmed and PC Andrew Harper's killers.
Sir Mel said: "It's incredibly disappointing and very hurtful, particularly to those friends and families of people who will be due for early release, not least amongst them, PC Harper's friends and family; it's a dreadful situation there, where he was dragged behind a vehicle for a mile and lost his life.
"What we should have is a position where we don't let people out early."
The Tory frontbencher argued the Government can free up prison spaces if they "remove foreign nationals" from the UK.
He said: "We free up space in our prisons, basically by removing foreign nationals, of which we have 10,000 in our prisons, and returning them to their country of origin.
"We should not be going soft on people who commit those kind of offences."
Sir Mel urged both Ms Mahmood and Mr Streeting to make "fulsome apologies" about the remarks, having observed their responses on social media.
He told GB News: "I haven't actually seen precisely what she said and had time to digest it.
"But let me make a general observation, which is: I think if you end up in a situation that Wes Streeting and Shabana Mahmood have, what you do is, without any equivocation, you go out there and you make a fulsome apology.
"You certainly do not seize upon that moment to turn it into a political attack on your opponents."
Turning to today's drop in inflation, the Shadow Chancellor welcomed the "good news" but warned of Prime Minister Andy Burnham "doubling down" on Labour's economic approach.
He said: "Any reduction in inflation, of course, is good news. But I'm afraid I think the really difficult news here is that all the mood music that's coming from Andy Burnham at the moment is that he's going to be doubling down on that approach.
"In other words, leaning more into borrowing, more into spending, quite possibly putting taxes up even further. Those are not the right approaches in order to get pressure down on hard-working people in our country."
Issuing an apology in response to the interaction, Ms Mahmood wrote on social media: "I think everyone can see there was no ill intent behind this ribbing of the new Lord Chancellor – a role I once filled and which comes with immense challenges thanks to the vandalism inflicted on our justice system by the last Conservative Government.
"But I appreciate this is an extremely serious issue and do not want anyone to mistake this moment of levity for a lack of serious intent."
Mr Streeting also took to social media to defend his remarks, writing: "I hope everyone can see there was no ill intent behind this ribbing of the new Justice Secretary – it was a reference to an old May/Clarke joke."